Tim Doody, executive director of the Chaffe McCall law firm and a certified public accountant from Arabi, was elected president of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East today, succeeding Metairie engineer Tom Jackson.

Doody will take over in July, after serving six months as treasurer of the consolidated levee board that oversees districts on the east bank of the Mississippi River. The new treasurer will be George Losonsky, a hydrologist from Baton Rouge.

Lawyer Abril Sutherland of LaPlace was re-elected vice president, and author John Barry of New Orleans was re-elected secretary.

When the 11-member board was seated in early January and elected its first slate of officers for six months, it agreed to hold elections for one-year terms to begin July 1.

After today's vote, Barry praised Jackson's work on behalf of the board, which included helping to get it organized and win budget money from the Legislature.

"I think he's an outstanding engineer . . . and an enormous asset for this board and the region, and I want to thank him for his service," Barry said. "I regret that he's not here so that I can say that to him directly."

Jackson has been out of state for more than a week tending to a family emergency.